Bank Of America Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval

This is the reason the financial system is on the verge of another collapse. But the next time no amount of bailout will save it. And nothing is being done to prevent the disaster from coming. That's why it's inevitable:

Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

Derivatives are highly volatile financial instruments that are occasionally used to hedge risk, but mostly used for speculation. They are bets upon the value of stocks, bonds, mortgages, other loans, currencies, commodities, volatility of financial indexes, and even weather changes. Many big banks, including Bank of America, issue derivatives because, if they are not triggered, they are highly profitable to the issuer, and result in big bonus payments to the executives who administer them. If they are triggered, of course, the obligations fall upon the corporate entity, not the executives involved. Ultimately, by allowing existing gambling bets to remain in insured retail banks, and endorsing the shift of additional bets into the insured retail division, the obligation falls upon the U.S. taxpayers and dollar-denominated savers.

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CIA's watchdog: No problem with NYPD Partnership

There is some question whether the Federal government was involved in the crackdown on Occupy Wall Street. Did the CIA teach the NYPD techniques and strategies that were used against OWS. If true it would be particular frightening. The CIA, in particular, has failed miserably in preventing terrorism and in predicting events abroad. They be should focusing on protecting America not stifling free speech at home :

The CIA said Friday its internal watchdog found nothing wrong with the spy agency's close partnership with the New York Police Department.

The agency's inspector general concluded that no laws were broken and there was "no evidence that any part of the agency's support to the NYPD constituted `domestic spying'," CIA spokesperson Preston Golson said.

[...]The revelations troubled some members of Congress and even prompted the U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper, to remark that it did not look good for the CIA to be involved in any city police department. Thirty-four lawmakers have asked for the Justice Department to investigate but so far that request has gone nowhere.

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Trends analyst Predicted Global Uprisings a Year ago

Governments around the world, including in the U.S., realize that the internet has been essential to the revolutionary movements that are arising in many countries. As a result they might try to limit the freedoms that exist. That would be disastrous for those of us who are fighting to bring change to our countries. It's already happening in America. We must prepare for the worst. All freedom seekers must develop strategies for dealing with our governments' attempt to shut us down. Democracy must be defended at all costs since the alternative is tyranny:

A trends analyst who made his reputation by predicting the 2008 economic crash appears to have scored again — at least in part.

A year ago, Gerald Celente told Russia Today that 2011 would be marked both by young people around the world coming together on the Internet to combat political and financial corruption and by government attempts to control dissent by shutting down free speech online.

“[The Internet is] exposing the corruptness, the ineptitude and the double dealing going on that [governments] don’t want the public to know about,” Celente told RT in a January 2011 interview. “The more freedom of information that goes out, they’re going to start using cyber war and the war on terror to take that Internet freedom away from America.”

“But in 2011, the game’s gonna run out,” he continued. “On one end, it’s a wake-up call and on the other hand it’s [an effort to] screw the people.”

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Donald Trump Leaves Republican Party

What a shocker. And to believe that Trump was once ahead in the early Presidential polls. Can the Republican primary campaign process get more ridiculous? Stay tuned:

Donald Trump is officially a man without a party.

The real estate mogul whose flirtation with the 2012 presidential race has never really ended despite announcing seven months ago he would not seek the Republican nomination has been signaling he wants to find other ways onto a presidential ticket.

Trump took another step in that direction on Thursday, switching his party affiliation from Republican to “unaffiliated,” according to a source close to the reality television star.

According to the source, he did so because he is “disgusted” with the way Republicans are handling matters in Washington, including the recent payroll tax cut deal. But the move also sets Trump up for a potential third-party run for president — a possibility he began talking about almost as soon as he told his fans in May he wasn’t running.

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Occupy's 2012 Agenda: Visiting Campaign Cities

Sounds good to me. But better yet, how about running candidates of our own that promise to run on a platform that shares many of the views of Occupy Wall Street. Until the 99% gain power nothing will really change in America:

"Occupy" protest organizers say they are using the winter to hone in on specific events and presidential campaign events instead of occupying town centers and financial institutions.

[...]Occupy protesters have voiced their concerns at several presidential campaign events, including disrupting President Obama during a speech at a high school in Manchester, N.H., on Nov. 22, and occupying one of his campaign offices in Des Moines, Iowa, over the weekend. The Occupy protesters make it clear they do not endorse any particular candidate, and they do not discriminate based on party when it comes to criticism.

"I think the typical OWS person is really upset with both parties and the whole idea of a two-party system," Pete Dutro, an Occupy Wall Street finance committee member in New York City, said. "It basically has turned into a campaign club ... not about getting things done. It's about gathering resources to get elected."

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Payroll Tax Cut Extension Just More Kicking Can Down the Road

President Obama and the Democrats are riding high after their "victory" over the Republicans. And that will last 2 months when we go through the gridlock and name calling all over again. What's going on is nothing political maneuvering having little to do with the fiscal/financial crisis facing America. The press isn't telling you this. They are busy playing up the drama and telling us who's ahead in some meaningless Presidential campaign poll. Anyone want to talk about how we get Americans back to work?:

Ahead of Christmas, President Barack Obama today achieved a major political victory when Republicans in the House of Representatives caved to his demands and agreed to extend the pay roll tax cut for 160 million American workers for two months.

Welcoming the deal reached by congressional leaders, Obama said it was a victory for weary Americans as they prepared for Christmas.

This is good news, just in time for the holidays. This is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy, and create new jobs," he said in a statement.

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Teargas fired at Chinese protesters in Haimen

The Chinese people are resisting despite overwhelming odds against them:

Chinese riot police have fired teargas to break up a protest against a planned power station, while a state TV station showed confessions by two detained activists in an attempt to get other protesters off the streets.

Footage from Hong Kong's Cable TV showed police firing several rounds of teargas in Haimen town in the southern province of Guangdong, forcing hundreds of people to flee covering their mouths and noses with their hands.

Hours later, a local TV station carried interviews with two detained protesters, a man named Li and a woman, Yung. Sitting behind bars with their heads bowed and handcuffs in full view, the two took turns to confess. "It was wrong to surround the government and block the highway," Li said, with his eyes lowered.

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China Jails Veteran Activist Chen Wei as Crackdown Continues

The UN should be spending it's time demanding Wei be set free rather than honoring a North Korean monster. The World is silent because they don't want to offend the Chinese rulers and not be allowed to open a factory in China. Let you and I not forget this individual. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere:

A Chinese court has sentenced veteran democracy activist Chen Wei to nine years in jail for "inciting subversion of state power" in what human rights groups say is the harshest sentence yet in a near year-long crackdown on dissent.

The case against Chen, a former student leader who was first jailed after the 1989 Tianamen Square uprising, was based on four online essays he wrote calling for political reforms. Suining intermediate court in Sichuan province took two and a half hours to reach a guilty verdict.

"We presented a full defence of the case, but we were interrupted often, and none of what we said was accepted by the court," his lawyer, Liang Xiaojun, said after the verdict. Chen was not allowed to make a statement during the trial. As he was hurried out of the courtroom, he called out: "I am not guilty! Constitutional democracy will win, dictatorship will be defeated!" He was also sentenced to two years deprivation of political rights once he completes his sentence.

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Ron Paul Newsletters: Ad Urging Subscription Warned Of 'Race War'

Paul has been running for President for some time now. Why are these allegations coming up now that he's ahead in the polls? And how has it been that the Congressman has gotten away with it the past. He should be laughed out of the campaign. His racist past went on years before he decided to run for President. He should not have gotten this far without having explain his past. Herman Cain was forced out of his run for the White House because of his immoral behavior. The same should happen to Paul:

A direct-mail solicitation for Ron Paul's political and investment newsletters two decades ago warned of a "coming race war in our big cities" and of a "federal-homosexual cover-up" to play down the impact of AIDS.

[...]Among other things, the articles called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a "world-class philanderer," criticized the U.S. holiday bearing King's name as "Hate Whitey Day," and said that AIDS sufferers "enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick."

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Obama’s comeback mirage?

He's riding high right now. He might even win reelection. But that doesn't mean things are getting better. Both the President and Congress have given up trying to solve the nation's serious problems. It's all about getting re-elected.

Occupy the New York Times

Occupy has never been about left or right. They attack greed wherever it is. It's about right and wrong.